Everything Early Theme Park Entry (ETPE) - Please Read Post 1

[ChanaC]

You assume correctly. MMRR is your best bet if not purchasing ILL$. We purchased it and also had SDD booked via LL. So we hit ToT first and it was about a 7 minute wait. Rocking Rollercoaster was about the same. Both posted as 20 minutes but it was 7 minutes actual.

Thanks. I don't think we'll be getting the MMRR ILL, but we might do RotR. We definitely don't want to pay for both.

 

[CJK]

Hi all! I know that only Tomorrowland and Fantasyland are open during early theme park entry. What's the path to get to Peter Pan? My friends are skipping SDMT and Space, and want to go right to Peter Pan. Do they line up with the SDMT folks, or is there a faster route? TIA!

 

[scrappinginontario]

Your post has been merged with the Everything Early Theme Park Entry thread.

Hi all! I know that only Tomorrowland and Fantasyland are open during early theme park entry. What's the path to get to Peter Pan? My friends are skipping SDMT and Space, and want to go right to Peter Pan. Do they line up with the SDMT folks, or is there a faster route? TIA!

Others have shared in this thread that heading towards the Tea Cups then turning a hard left at the old Merida meet n greet and going up behind the castle, was successful for them.

Another option is to go to the Tea Cups but then stay to the left side of the crowd heading to SDMT and keep going past the Carrousel and over to PP.

 

[Prince John Robin Hood]

For anyone who has rope dropped HS lately, where does it seem the mass of crowds tend to go? I assume it's a combination of RotR, MFSR, SDD, and MMRR. I'm planning on rope dropping MMRR but am interested to know where everyone else seems to be heading.

We're leaning towards rope dropping MMRR in a few weeks as well and getting LL$ for SDD. Hopefully this means being able to get there closer to ETPE start time as we're not early risers.

 

[soniam]

For anyone who has rope dropped HS lately, where does it seem the mass of crowds tend to go? I assume it's a combination of RotR, MFSR, SDD, and MMRR. I'm planning on rope dropping MMRR but am interested to know where everyone else seems to be heading.

Rise by far, with SDD being second. Smuggler's was dead, us and another family, from 7:30-8am when we did it last week just after 8am. Even once it started, it wasn't very busy. We rode it twice in a row without a wait.The CMs were confused why we were heading there.

 

[Littlelulu01]

Here now in line for fop. Have to say I’m extremely disappointed in the process. The crowds they cram you into are a complete joke. Have to purchase ll before u get to see times available. Another scam. This is not magical and is costing thousands. I had hoped for a decent experience.

 

[ChanaC]

Here now in line for fop. Have to say I’m extremely disappointed in the process. The crowds they cram you into are a complete joke. Have to purchase ll before u get to see times available. Another scam. This is not magical and is costing thousands. I had hoped for a decent experience.

What time did you arrive? And what's going on over there? I'm hoping to rope drop FOP next week.

 

[Ariel620]

Here now in line for fop. Have to say I’m extremely disappointed in the process. The crowds they cram you into are a complete joke. Have to purchase ll before u get to see times available. Another scam. This is not magical and is costing thousands. I had hoped for a decent experience.

What time did you arrive? And what's going on over there? I'm hoping to rope drop FOP next week.

I noticed today was the first day in a long time that AK didn't open at 7:30 for EE, it was 8:30 instead since the park opened at 9. I bet that made it a lot more crowded since more people can arrive by that time. Sorry it was a bad experience.

 

[Littlelulu01]

I noticed today was the first day in a long time that AK didn't open at 7:30 for EE, it was 8:30 instead since the park opened at 9. I bet that made it a lot more crowded since more people can arrive by that time. Sorry it was a bad experience.

Park opened at 8:30. We got on a 7:30 bus from Rivera. They let us through security and through the entrance and then it was a mob of people to a holding area outside Pandora. I think it was about 8:30 when they let people actually line up. We were not willing to push and jockey and weave through the crowds so probably lost a lot of ground during the getting to the line up process. I would never have bothered had I known what I was in for. I’d say we were done with the ride by around 10:30am. I think posted wait time was 135 min - so posted wait was about right. Your pretty much shoulder to shoulder with thousands.

 

[Grasshopper2016]

Wait a minute! You were on the bus at 7:30 for an 8:30 early entry, and you didn’t end up getting off of FOP until 10:30?! That is an epic fail on Disney’s part. What a disaster.

 

[Future_WorldPhonencian]

Wait a minute! You were on the bus at 7:30 for an 8:30 early entry, and you didn’t end up getting off of FOP until 10:30?! That is an epic fail on Disney’s part. What a disaster.

Im so sorry you had a bad experience, im noticing they are pushing opening back to 7:30 at AK the day we are there so I hope we can avoid.

 

[Grasshopper2016]

Imagine logging onto MDE at 7:00 to book your first G+LL ride, and getting KS or Navi for 9:15-10:15. And then getting right on the bus for an 8:30 early entry to rope drop FOP. But then, by the time you actually get off of FOP, you missed your LL ride. Unbelievable.

 

[Future_WorldPhonencian]

Can anyone else share their DHS opening experience for early entry? It seems they have mostly “standard” 8:30/ 9 openings. I havent seen them open that park earlier since SWGE first opened. How early are onsite guests getting on to RotR?

 

[scrappinginontario]

Just a reminder that we also have a, 'Here Now and Just Back' thread where people are sharing their actual experiences. Reading the last few pages of that thread will give you a lot of information about what people are currently experiencing in the parks.

 

[Grasshopper2016]

Interested to hear more about the Early Entry rope drop process at FOP. Is it just a complete free for all (among those on-site guests already in the park) at 7:30 (for an 8:00 opening)? In other words, if you arrive earlier, will you be closer to the front of the line for FOP, and thus have a shorter wait? Or, as a recent poster seems to have experienced, is everyone held in such a haphazard way that those who arrived at 6:45 could easily end up behind those who arrived at 7:20?

 

[OhhBother]

Can anyone else share their DHS opening experience for early entry? It seems they have mostly “standard” 8:30/ 9 openings. I havent seen them open that park earlier since SWGE first opened. How early are onsite guests getting on to RotR?

We’re here this week. Did early entry at DHS on Saturday morning. We drove over and got to the entrance at about 7:15. We were the third car there. Security had us wait for just a few minutes and then we drove on in and parked. By the time we got to the front, the park was open for early entry guests. Lots of people from buses and Skyliner were already ahead of us.

We went straight to SWGE, and we joined a line outside the big gate entrance near Muppets. They held us there until 7:45, and then we went straight to ROTR. The line was moving swiftly and then came to a dead stop for about 10 minutes - I’m assuming the ride went down briefly. But once it restarted, we were on and off the ride very quickly. By 9 am park opening, we’d finished Rise, Smuggler’s Run and stopped for photos and a snack. We then went straight back to ROTR for a second ride I purchased at 7 am.

Getting there early kept us ahead of the crowd all morning. Between early entry and Genie+, we rode ROTR twice, Smuggler’s, SDD twice, Midway Mania twice and MMRR with minimal waits for anything.

 

[Jennasis]

We are hitting DHS tomorrow. It says opening is at 9 but nowhere in the MDE app does it say what time morning magic hour is so I'm assuming we will get there at 8am in case they open earlier than a half hour?? I'm going to buy a LL for Rise and then also G+. I will have DH book Rise on his phone while I use my phone to buy Genie+ and try for a SDD early in the day. Then we will rope drop Rise (we want to ride twice), and start hitting as many things as we can early. If we can't get a LL for slinky that is early then we will skip Slinky. We would rather have ring LL passes all day.

 

[scrappinginontario]

We are hitting DHS tomorrow. It says opening is at 9 but nowhere in the MDE app does it say what time morning magic hour is so I'm assuming we will get there at 8am in case they open earlier than a half hour?? I'm going to buy a LL for Rise and then also G+. I will have DH book Rise on his phone while I use my phone to buy Genie+ and try for a SDD early in the day. Then we will rope drop Rise (we want to ride twice), and start hitting as many things as we can early. If we can't get a LL for slinky that is early then we will skip Slinky. We would rather have ring LL passes all day.

If park hours begin at 9:00 then Early Theme Park Entry for resort guests begin at 8:30. All resorts ETPE hours officially begin 30 mins before posted park hours.

 

[soniam]

We are hitting DHS tomorrow. It says opening is at 9 but nowhere in the MDE app does it say what time morning magic hour is so I'm assuming we will get there at 8am in case they open earlier than a half hour?? I'm going to buy a LL for Rise and then also G+. I will have DH book Rise on his phone while I use my phone to buy Genie+ and try for a SDD early in the day. Then we will rope drop Rise (we want to ride twice), and start hitting as many things as we can early. If we can't get a LL for slinky that is early then we will skip Slinky. We would rather have ring LL passes all day.

DHS seems to open more than an hour before regular park opening for EE. Rides in Batuu start running about an hour before regular opening. You should probably get there more than an hour before.

EDIT: Just realized I was too late to help you. Hopefully this will help others.

 

[Jennasis]

DHS seems to open more than an hour before regular park opening for EE. Rides in Batuu start running about an hour before regular opening. You should probably get there more than an hour before.

EDIT: Just realized I was too late to help you. Hopefully this will help others.

Interesting as we DID get there at 8am for a 9am opening but multiple CMs we asked including the BLT concierge told us it would only open 30 minutes prior to official opening. We would have been so behind the crowd had we listened to them.